Jon's First Outdoor Grow: Sugar Breath Photoperiod & Strawberry Banana Autoflower

[Jon]

She will be a beautiful lady no doubt.

Stay safe
Bill

If it turns out to be an auto I'm gonna laugh my arse off. It would have to be Dos Si Dos if it's an auto. I'm already sitting on several ounces of it, more than any other strain I have, and there's still another in the damn tent. I smoke so much Dos Si Dos I'm trying to invent new ways to smoke it. Lol. But I *think* she's a Pineapple Upside Down Cake. I might remember the PUC seedling looking just like this, but that also might just be wishful thinking.

 

[Jon]

CJS Apple Blossom
Just Cuz.
Flower Day 27

Close and closer.

EDIT: Forgot the overhead shot. Got all the way up, perched on the left arm rest of my chair at max height to able to get a shot from above the light. Still can't get 100% over the plant, centered, but this is closer.

 

[BubbaKush909]

Morning Jon! Hope things are going well for you, things are pretty good here. Would be even better if the Bengals had been able to pull it out but it was an awesome season for us long suffering fans!

Wanted to give you an update, I've chopped 3 of the 4 autos and finally got what I've been looking for! I get so twisted into knots trying to make sense of the trichs that I decided to just trust my eyes to know when it was time. Never did see much amber when I did check the trichs.

First to go was the Wedding Cake 76 days from sprouting and day 41 of flower. It's pretty sticky, smells great and smokes even better. This maybe could have gone a few more days but the grow space was crowded, it was flopping all over the place and it was driving me crazy. When the remaining fans started to yellow and she stopped drinking that was good enough for me. Yielded a little over 3z's.

Next was the star so far, the Gelato. This may be the stickiest plant I've ever grown. It smells amazing and it hits like a truck. Incredibly it yielded almost 8zs. Looking at them side by side as they grew I thought it and the WC looked about the same, what do I know. It went 78 days from sprouting and 46 days in flower.

Then I chopped the 4th gorilla glue I've grown, but the first I grew well. Now I see what all the fuss is about. It was a smaller plant, didn't get as much light as the WC or Gelato, but it kicks like a mule and gave me about 4.5 z's. Also chopped after 78/46.

I have one remaining plant, the zKittles. It's now at 87/52 and will be ready today or tomorrow. Since it's the last plant standing I'll be able to do the 48 hrs of darkness thing.

Since this harvest went so well I took almost all the remaining gold leaf and made bubble hash. I'm guessing I had 4-5z's which rendered down to a little under a half ounce of amazing hash. I'm going to try making my own version of hash-laden gummies lol. It's great to finally have so much quality bud there's plenty left for playing around with. I could never begin to smoke everything.

Thanks to you I feel like I'm finally dialed in. The lights definitely work. The 'water only' soil has been a godsend to me, I can finally grow in soil woohoo! I supplemented with calmag throughout the grow, gave them silica during flower and a flowering tea during bloom.

It's been interesting, normally I cut off the nutes as the plants enter the end phase. This isn't possible with this soil of course since the nutes are embedded. But they still finished the way I'm used to seeing, the remaining fans start dying off and they stop drinking.

So from seed these went 11, 11, 11 & 12.5-13 weeks.

Keep up the great growing my friend and I can't thank you enough. If this grow hadn't worked out I was going to ditch everything and go back to my old ways. It's been a huge relief that I got it right and everything it working as hoped for. After this harvest settles I'm going to start an LSD-25, Cream Cookies & Amnesia Haze. 3 plants will be much better for my space. I'll let you know what I think of the zKittles in a week or so!

 

[Jon]

Morning Jon! Hope things are going well for you, things are pretty good here. Would be even better if the Bengals had been able to pull it out but it was an awesome season for us long suffering fans!

Wanted to give you an update, I've chopped 3 of the 4 autos and finally got what I've been looking for! I get so twisted into knots trying to make sense of the trichs that I decided to just trust my eyes to know when it was time. Never did see much amber when I did check the trichs.

First to go was the Wedding Cake 76 days from sprouting and day 41 of flower. It's pretty sticky, smells great and smokes even better. This maybe could have gone a few more days but the grow space was crowded, it was flopping all over the place and it was driving me crazy. When the remaining fans started to yellow and she stopped drinking that was good enough for me. Yielded a little over 3z's.

Next was the star so far, the Gelato. This may be the stickiest plant I've ever grown. It smells amazing and it hits like a truck. Incredibly it yielded almost 8zs. Looking at them side by side as they grew I thought it and the WC looked about the same, what do I know. It went 78 days from sprouting and 46 days in flower.

Then I chopped the 4th gorilla glue I've grown, but the first I grew well. Now I see what all the fuss is about. It was a smaller plant, didn't get as much light as the WC or Gelato, but it kicks like a mule and gave me about 4.5 z's. Also chopped after 78/46.

I have one remaining plant, the zKittles. It's now at 87/52 and will be ready today or tomorrow. Since it's the last plant standing I'll be able to do the 48 hrs of darkness thing.

Since this harvest went so well I took almost all the remaining gold leaf and made bubble hash. I'm guessing I had 4-5z's which rendered down to a little under a half ounce of amazing hash. I'm going to try making my own version of hash-laden gummies lol. It's great to finally have so much quality bud there's plenty left for playing around with. I could never begin to smoke everything.

Thanks to you I feel like I'm finally dialed in. The lights definitely work. The 'water only' soil has been a godsend to me, I can finally grow in soil woohoo! I supplemented with calmag throughout the grow, gave them silica during flower and a flowering tea during bloom.

It's been interesting, normally I cut off the nutes as the plants enter the end phase. This isn't possible with this soil of course since the nutes are embedded. But they still finished the way I'm used to seeing, the remaining fans start dying off and they stop drinking.

So from seed these went 11, 11, 11 & 12.5-13 weeks.

Keep up the great growing my friend and I can't thank you enough. If this grow hadn't worked out I was going to ditch everything and go back to my old ways. It's been a huge relief that I got it right and everything it working as hoped for. After this harvest settles I'm going to start an LSD-25, Cream Cookies & Amnesia Haze. 3 plants will be much better for my space. I'll let you know what I think of the zKittles in a week or so!

Hey @BubbaKush909! Wow, what a great post! Congratulations on what sounds like a stellar harvest. You must be ecstatic, over the moon. I'm not surprised that the Gelato is your star so far - I described mine much the same as you have, and to be honest it's my head stash jar with the most buds in it. It's so tasty, like candy, and I love the density of it. Almost a half pound tells me yours was plenty dense too. That's awesome. Look forward to the Zkittlez report. And thanks for the kind words and props, BK, but man, lemme give you a different perspective on that:

What did I do? I answered a few questions for you when you asked. I encouraged you to ask around. A couple times, that's it.

What did you do? EVERYTHING

See what I'm saying?

 

[Azimuth]

Ha! Well, I said a couple months because if you recall, this experiment is really about the solstice. Right now, officially by sunrise/sunset, they get less than 12/12. In a week they begin to get more than 12/12 every day, by a few minutes. My theory is it stays in veg. The other is that it does not. Don't you think we'll know the answer to that in a couple months?

I'm having fun with this. That was my take on the experiment. Is that how you see it?

I guess that's right. In a couple of months we'll know if it is trying to put out flowers. The obvious question is for outdoor growers with long flowering sativas growing in warm climates, when do they put them out? My guess is after the equinox but this test will shed some light on that.

Though to be fair, Shed's comment on the best test would be to start a seed in late November so it is mature enough to test the true cycle starting right at December 21, the shortest day of the year. After that, it would be mature, getting the shortest amount of light, but have it increase every day. So, which is more important, lengthening days or less than 12 hours of light?

That can be your next round, but since you're moving to colder locals we'll have to find someone else to try that one. In any event, this will be fun, with a plant that doesn't much matter whether it's male of female, or even a hermie!

 

[Jon]

I guess that's right. In a couple of months we'll know if it is trying to put out flowers. The obvious question is for outdoor growers with long flowering sativas growing in warm climates, when do they put them out? My guess is after the equinox but this test will shed some light on that.

Though to be fair, Shed's comment on the best test would be to start a seed in late November so it is mature enough to test the true cycle starting right at December 21, the shortest day of the year. After that, it would be mature, getting the shortest amount of light, but have it increase every day. So, which is more important, lengthening days or less than 12 hours of light?

That can be your next round, but since you're moving to colder locals we'll have to find someone else to try that one. In any event, this will be fun, with a plant that doesn't much matter whether it's male of female, or even a hermie!

Exactly right on all counts! And yes, I agree, Shed surely is correct in that regard. I don't doubt him for a moment. And he may be right about this one too. Guess we'll see! And big right on "with a plant that doesn't matter!" Be funny if it turned out to be Dos Si Dos auto.

 

[Azimuth]

If it turns out to be an auto I'm gonna laugh my arse off. It would have to be Dos Si Dos if it's an auto. I'm already sitting on several ounces of it, more than any other strain I have, and there's still another in the damn tent. I smoke so much Dos Si Dos I'm trying to invent new ways to smoke it. Lol. But I *think* she's a Pineapple Upside Down Cake. I might remember the PUC seedling looking just like this, but that also might just be wishful thinking.

If it is an auto, will you be able to tell? If not, that would kinda invalidate the experiment.

 

[Jon]

If it is an auto, will you be able to tell? If not, that would kinda invalidate the experiment.

If it's an auto we'll all be able to tell in a few weeks.

Oh, you mean if it starts to flower, will I know for sure it's an auto or if it's a photo beginning to flower. Hmm. Hadn't even considered that possibility. That would mean the photo felt it was mature enough to begin flowering at like day 35. Don't know how old she is now, but I'd say maybe 15-20 days? Can't imagine this plant going into flower in two or three weeks even if I gave her 1/23. Lol. But hey - I really have no idea what's going to happen, and it's actually a really good question. I was assuming if it went to flower then it had to be an auto. If it DOES go into flower, at that point, in short time, I'll be able to ID it based on what the buds look like. Much easier than trying at this point in veg, lol.

Also if it's an auto, the experiment is kind of invalidated anyway, since light is irrelevant to them. Lol.

 

[Azimuth]

If it's an auto we'll all be able to tell in a few weeks.

Oh, you mean if it starts to flower, will I know for sure it's an auto or if it's a photo beginning to flower. Hmm. Hadn't even considered that possibility. That would mean the photo felt it was mature enough to begin flowering at like day 35. Don't know how old she is now, but I'd say maybe 15-20 days? Can't imagine this plant going into flower in two or three weeks even if I gave her 1/23. Lol. But hey - I really have no idea what's going to happen, and it's actually a really good question. I was assuming if it went to flower then it had to be an auto. If it DOES go into flower, at that point, in short time, I'll be able to ID it based on what the buds look like. Much easier than trying at this point in veg, lol.

Also if it's an auto, the experiment is kind of invalidated anyway, since light is irrelevant to them. Lol.

Exactly my point. We want to know for a photo plant, do short hours of approximately 12 hours of light but lengthening each day matter. If it's an auto it will flower based on its internal clock, not a reaction to light.

 

[Jon]

Exactly my point. We want to know for a photo plant, do short hours of approximately 12 hours of light but lengthening each day matter. If it's an auto it will flower based on its internal clock, not a reaction to light.

Yup I see. Well, let's see what happens. ID'ing it is of minimal importance other than that. But one wonders if it does start to flower, how would we ever know? The flowering cycle is pretty much the same. If I hadn't just grown both strains I'd never be able to come close to ID'ing them from the buds. Lol.

 

[Jon]

When You're Right You're Right
When You're Wrong You're Wrong
This one's for @InTheShed

Shed was RIGHT.

I was WRONG.

They're bugs.

Looking over the Strawberry Lemonade. Every bud on the plant, one by one. No problems, no signs of garbage, no signs of rot. Until the second to last branch I got to, a lowest noder, and I notice the very bottom two most flarfy buds, the little side by side ones at the base of a stem, looked way too frosty. They did NOT look like that yesterday. I looked. Same thing as the other from yesterday. Now I could scope them. Yep. BUGS. GODDAMN MOVING BUGS.

What kind? No fricking clue. Time to fix it? Nope. Anything else on the plant affected? Not at the moment.

That means the Strawberry Lemonade comes down right now. I'm not losing this plant to these bastards. I'd rather take it a few days early. As soon as I'm done this post she gets chopped. Then I'll assess the Dos Si Dos, but I suspect she's coming down too, and that sucks a little worse than the SL. The SL is so close and all white with the occasional amber, that's close enough to acceptable. The DSD is maybe four or five days behind that. It'll compromise the DSD final fattening. But again, it's obviously going to continue, I obviously can't fix it in time, and I am not losing these plants.

I gotta get busy.

Glad you were correct Shed and thanks, cuz at least I know. Toldja I could easily be wrong and indeed I was. Anything in your vast arsenal of information that might help identify what these damn things are? They look kind of aphid-y. It does appear, however, that whatever the hell these things are, they just arrived. I just don't think they're leaving. The moving ones in the scope had smiles on their faces they like this strain so much. GROSS. But it also appears they begin at the bottom, and don't move up the stem until they've completely trashed the first set of buds they come to. That's the only way I can explain having nothing on the top but carnage on the bottom.

If you're squeamish, look away now. When I am finished and she's hung (won't take terribly long) I'll post some pics of the harvested buds to take the edge off these stills I lifted from some dude's personal horror movie.

 

[Jon]

This Should Help Take The Edge Off
Did for Me!!

Here's some pictures of the rest of the plant, especially the cola, which is totally unaffected and now safe I hope. This is obviously pre trim and hang, but I wanted to show the difference. I only lost one tiny branch coming off a main branch (the one I just showed with the bugs, maybe two/three grams dried) and the bottom of the Dos Si Dos branch I showed the other day. If they (the bugs) aren't hidden, which they don't really seem to do, lol, these buds and the lion's share of the plants should be fine.

The Strawberry Lemonade is getting trimmed in a minute and hung in a closet. Obviously even if I took both plants I can't dry in this tent.

Here's her cola:

Her cola.jpg

• Jon
• Feb 15, 2022

And a little closer:

Her cola closer.jpg

• Jon
• Feb 15, 2022

And a little closer yet:

And her cola closer yet.jpg

• Jon
• Feb 15, 2022

Here's the top of another bud in the sun:

Top of a bud in the sun.jpg

• Jon
• Feb 15, 2022

And here's how you check to see if the branch and buds you just chopped are bug free:

Nice clean bug free.jpg

• Jon
• Feb 15, 2022

They are! These are clean as a whistle. Very very odd. Localized bugs. Bet if I didn't look for three days the entire tent and both plants top to bottom would be alive with them.

I lost 5-8% of her. Whatever. The rest is beautiful and doesn't even look terribly early, just a tiny bit. Smells so damn dank it's ridiculous.

Trim time. Hope this stopped your skin from crawling.

 

[BubbaKush909]

Ugh bugs I hate them in the grow room. I keep getting stink bugs but they don't seem to care much about the plants. I saw what looked like a gnat today, first one all grow long and it's 20 degrees out. Where it came from has me stumped. I've got these sticky pads that kinda look like flowers to get any bugs but so far they haven't caught anything in 5 months.

Those nug shots are fantastic Jon!

 

[7Dust2]

Ugh bugs I hate them in the grow room. I keep getting stink bugs but they don't seem to care much about the plants. I saw what looked like a gnat today, first one all grow long and it's 20 degrees out. Where it came from has me stumped. I've got these sticky pads that kinda look like flowers to get any bugs but so far they haven't caught anything in 5 months.

Those nug shots are fantastic Jon!

Grab u some lavender oil. And out it in humidifier works great keep them stink bugs out. I have same issue them and lightening bugs

 

[7Dust2]

When You're Right You're Right
When You're Wrong You're Wrong
This one's for @InTheShed

Shed was RIGHT.

I was WRONG.

They're bugs.

Looking over the Strawberry Lemonade. Every bud on the plant, one by one. No problems, no signs of garbage, no signs of rot. Until the second to last branch I got to, a lowest noder, and I notice the very bottom two most flarfy buds, the little side by side ones at the base of a stem, looked way too frosty. They did NOT look like that yesterday. I looked. Same thing as the other from yesterday. Now I could scope them. Yep. BUGS. GODDAMN MOVING BUGS.

What kind? No fricking clue. Time to fix it? Nope. Anything else on the plant affected? Not at the moment.

That means the Strawberry Lemonade comes down right now. I'm not losing this plant to these bastards. I'd rather take it a few days early. As soon as I'm done this post she gets chopped. Then I'll assess the Dos Si Dos, but I suspect she's coming down too, and that sucks a little worse than the SL. The SL is so close and all white with the occasional amber, that's close enough to acceptable. The DSD is maybe four or five days behind that. It'll compromise the DSD final fattening. But again, it's obviously going to continue, I obviously can't fix it in time, and I am not losing these plants.

I gotta get busy.

Glad you were correct Shed and thanks, cuz at least I know. Toldja I could easily be wrong and indeed I was. Anything in your vast arsenal of information that might help identify what these damn things are? They look kind of aphid-y. It does appear, however, that whatever the hell these things are, they just arrived. I just don't think they're leaving. The moving ones in the scope had smiles on their faces they like this strain so much. GROSS. But it also appears they begin at the bottom, and don't move up the stem until they've completely trashed the first set of buds they come to. That's the only way I can explain having nothing on the top but carnage on the bottom.

If you're squeamish, look away now. When I am finished and she's hung (won't take terribly long) I'll post some pics of the harvested buds to take the edge off these stills I lifted from some dude's personal horror movie.

Dam bugs .

 

[Jon]

Ugh bugs I hate them in the grow room. I keep getting stink bugs but they don't seem to care much about the plants. I saw what looked like a gnat today, first one all grow long and it's 20 degrees out. Where it came from has me stumped. I've got these sticky pads that kinda look like flowers to get any bugs but so far they haven't caught anything in 5 months.

Those nug shots are fantastic Jon!

Thanks BK. I had a few fungus gnats my very first grow, and these are the first bugs in a tent grow I have encountered since. I never get them in a tent, (well, rarely, lol) unless I guess I bring them in from the outside. That's what I believe happened in this case. They just showed up out of nowhere after not existing the entire grow. Nothing changed. I can only figure I brought them into the tent somehow. Especially since the damage is so new, so localized, and so confined. Hell, I may look at the now drying branches in the morning and see bugs everywhere for all I know. That will suck, but I don't think that'll be the case. Pretty sure I checked every bud on every branch as I trimmed it and again as I hung it, all from the underside, and all after removing the bottom garbage leaves so I could clearly see the underside, I saw nothing but perfectly clean green with healthy trichs and all. These bugs, whatever disgusting thing they are, are very obvious when you see them. Had I been looking at the underside of branches down low the whole time I might have caught them sooner, but based on how few there were I really don't think they existed till a few days ago.

Whatever. It's done. The DSD comes down in the morning, not taking a chance with her either. Hopefully she's still bug free in the am, as she was when she went to bed. Alone. Lol.

 

[Jon]

Morning @Bill284 -

Sorry I compromised a little of your harvest by bringing bugs into the tent. My bad. Lol.

Checked the buds of the SL I hung last night. Nary a bug in sight.

Chopping the DSD in half an hour even though I really don't want to. Bet she could go another whole week. It'll cost me some yield and some quality. It'll be okay though, and I have so much DSD that if it had to be a plant I'm glad it was this one.

Then the tent is getting it's most thorough cleaning ever, and in light of these disgusting critters I am going to forgo my non-bleach stance and use it this time. Do you have a percentage of bleach to warm water or ratio for me? Anything other than bleach and water?

This ain't happening again.

 

[StoneOtter]

Always with a plan B Jon. Way to shake it off brother! Going to be nice when she's dry!

 

[Jon]

Always with a plan B Jon. Way to shake it off brother! Going to be nice when she's dry!

Morning @StoneOtter - well, at least the ability to invent one quickly when necessary, lol. One thing I'm learning about if you're going to continually grow all the time: flexibility is essential, and loss is part of the game. The skill is learning how to mitigate your loss, or at least one of them is. We all do it, I learned it here! I think what Krissi is doing bringing her girls back from those yellow edges is a great example of mitigating loss early in veg, this one here - well, I don't really have a choice, right? One day, bugs on one part of one plant's branch. Removed. Next day, bugs on two little buds on another branch of the other plant. Pretty easy to see where this is going I think. If they were weeks younger I'd try to figure out what they were and kill them, but given the timing I felt a bit stuck for options. So down they come. Oh well.

I do take this crap better than when I first got here don't I? I remember crying to all you guys over losing one plant in veg in the past. Lol. Live and learn, right?

Thanks!

 

[Jon]

Hey @Bill284, I'm looking at this DSD and she's bug free right now. I could toss her outside and let her finish up outside - it's about 12/12 now, I don't think she'd reveg. What do you think? Or just chop her?

Hey @Azimuth, you out there this morning? What do you think of the above idea?